SuperShelly Vol 1
by supershelly
Summary: I have decided to put the first six shorts together, anthology like
1. 1 Like You

Like You

I have been working at the pool only a short time. A friend taught me everything I need to know... almost. He taught me lifeguarding skills, people skills, he even got me a job here. One thing he never showed me was what to do with this insufferable heat, and he's gone now.

'Be creative and keep your cool,' he said. Keep your cool... That is the problem. It is so hot that even standing in front of the freezer won't even turn the headlights on. Being creative is something else.

Being on the lifeguard stand day after day dealing with the same kids braking the same rules with the same consequences doesn't have the right appeal. They never learn; they simply do what they want to. Not to mention it gets redundant. But this day was exceptional.

It was exceptionally hot that the kids would not even come to the pool before it opened so that they would not have to wait in line. But when they came, they came in swarms. The pool was overflowing. There were so many people there the water was pouring out.

With the heat come problems. Kids were fighting, rough housing, and in general NOT listening to the lifeguards. So we did the best what we could - sit them out, and if that wouldn't work - kick them out.

Management dealt with most of those rowdy kids. I, on the other hand, had problems of my own. Behind me were two girls arguing. When I got off the stand I went to talk to them.

"Hi. OK, what is going on here? Why have you two been fighting the entire time I was up there?" I asked pointing to the stand.

"She stole my towel." One girl said.

"No she stole MY towel." The other butted in.

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Whoa. Hey, now where did you get the towel at?" I asked the first girl.

"I found it."

"Found it where? And please, tell me your names."

"I'm Erin, and I found it over there," she said point to the locker rooms.

"And where did you find it?" I asked the other girl.

"I didn't. I brung it." Sure, but she could have been lying.

"And your name?"

"I'm Jennifer."

"Hi, I'm Shelly. And how old are you girls?"

"6," said Erin.

"5," said Jennifer.

"Don't you girls like each other?"

"Yeah," they both said.

"Then why can't you share it?"

"I don't know." They replied.

I had no idea what I was going to do with the towel at that point. They were just young girls. I didn't want to hurt their feelings or anything. "OK, so how about you give ME the towel for a while and I will try to figure out whose it is."

"OK." Wow that was easier than I thought. But what was I going to do with the towel?"

As the day went on, it got hotter and hotter outside. I was up to the point I was sweating so much I was losing weight. And the adult swim / pool break was coming soon. Climbing on stand I dropped the towel and it fell into the water. Opps. But when I got it back it felt so nice, and cool, I tied it around my neck and covered my back so I could keep cool. And that made me remember what my friend did a long time ago. These people weren't going to want to get out. We're going to have to coax them out, I could tell.

By the time it was for my break I had the plan set in motion. I had permission to do this and the support and help of the entire staff. I was nervous. I went and bought something from the candy machine and went back around the pool. My towel needed re-wetting.

As I leaned over to get it wet, the candy bar fell in. Opps, again, but this time it wasn't as much an accident. I walked back into the guardroom to get a net and other stuff to 'clean up the mess.' As I was getting ready I heard my call: "There is something brown floating in the pool." Next thing I heard was a whistle blowing everyone out of the pool.

I stepped out carrying a pool net, and wearing a mask, snorkel, water wings, and a round inflatable duck. Not to mention the towel was still there trying to cool me off.

As I walked out, the crowd started laughing at me. "Hey look at the lifeguard who needs floaties." But the only people to come up to me were those two girls.

"What is all of that for?" They asked.

"Well the mask and snorkel are so I can see and breathe. The water wings are to help me swim and the duckie thingy too is to help me float. And this net here is to help me grab whatever is in the water."

"Oh."

"And whatever is in the water is... where?" I asked looking everywhere BUT right in front of me.

"It's right there." Kids yelled.

"Where?"

"RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!"

I shrieked at the sight of it. "Eww! Who left that there? I ain't touching that with a ten-foot pole. I mean look at it. It's all like melting in the water. That just is not natural." And with that I began walking off.

"But what about the swimming?" I heard from behind me.

"Pools closed. Go home."

"Noooooooo." All the kids screamed in unison.

"OK, fine. But I am NOT going in. That's just nasty." I walked back, lunged at the floating surprise with my pole, and missed. Then I missed again. "Oh Shi-, I mean oh crap... I mean.. uh.. shoot, I hafta get in."

With all my stuff on, my water wings, floating, towel, mask, and snorkel, I jumped in. With a big splash I pushed it further in the pool forcing me to float out to it, slowly wading over, and further spreading it around the pool.

"Does the new person always have to clean this up when someone does this in the pool? This is disgusting." I hollered, finally scooping it in my net. "Is anyone here named Winnie?" I asked as I climbed out. "Because I have the pooh!" I walked around showing the kids what was in the net.

Suddenly, in the midst of a crowd of kids, I stopped and looked at it. "This looks odd. This don't look like ordinary pooh." I said as I brought it closer to my face to smell. "Whew! But it sure do smell like it. Someone ate something FUNKY for this to smell like this. You wanna smell? Anyone?" I asked motioning at the kids nearby, but everyone backed away.

By this time someone had run out a pair of gloves to me so I could pick it up and dispose of it better. Kids were cowering away, but more got closer in for a better look. "You know what? I still don't think this is really pooh. This looks like..." I said, with the crowd completely silent, bringing it closer to me, and I bit down on it... and cringed. "No, it's poop."

All at once the silence was broken.

"EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

"I need a drink," I said running to the guardroom.

A short while later I came out and Erin and Jennifer were right there waiting for me. 'Oh yeah, I still have the towel,' I remembered.

"We have to leave now, can we have the towel back?" Jennifer said.

"OK," I said, "who's did you decide this is?"

"Mine," they said, "no, mine."

"OK, how about this. I will tear it in half. That way you both have it."

"Yeah, sure," said Erin.

"No. You can't. Just give it to her. Maybe I can borrow it." Said Jennifer.

"You know what? I am going to give the entire towel to Jennifer. And do you want to know why? ("Yeah.") It is because she was willing to give it up just to keep it whole. She didn't want to see it broken or torn. It's really a friendly thing to do, honorable, and shows it is really hers."

"Yeah, I guess so." Erin said as Jennifer tied the towel around her neck.

"What are you doing?"

"I want to be super, like you, Shelly," she said as she walked away.

I guess my friend had a point when he said be creative and keep your cool. I do that one day and look where it gets me. Super Shelly. How ironic.


	2. 2 Water too Big

Water Too Big

I _AM_ SuperShelly. But I didn't understand it until recently. It wasn't all the work I had to do because I was the only one there. It wasn't the fact that I was the only guard. It wasn't even the fact I had been working days without breaks. It was all because of a little boy.

I showed up to work right on time which was an hour early to do the cleaning. He had already been waiting out front, mindlessly cheerful, asking "how much longer until I can go swim?"

"How long have you been waiting?" I asked, I hadn't checked the time yet.

"I don't know. Mommy dropped me off at 9." I hadn't the heart to tell him he had an hour.

"Not too much longer." I said, checking the clock on the wall which sat next to the huge sign informing everyone of the pool hours.

I was the only person there, other than the boy. The manager left the office open with a note saying he would be gone until the pool opened. The place was filthy from the night before: It stormed. But of course the sky was as clear as fresh clean water. Ironically, completely the opposite of our pool water.

Thirty minutes passed and I was still the only person there. The water looked better now, but only as good as a new guard was allowed (I skimmed the leaves off the top). I started getting the lifeguard umbrellas and things out when I realized the baby pool was empty. I stretched out the long hose towards the baby pool but it didn't reach. I delicately fastened the hose to the fence, walked fast to the office (because running at the pool is bad), got the special water key, and turned on the water. The hose came undone and sprayed everywhere. I chased after it like it was possessed. I caught a hold of the hose as it slithered all over, rampaging and spitting water everywhere... but in the pool. I wrestled the hose to the ground, flopping like a fish out of water, and rolled around until I had it under submission. I tried once again to fasten it to the fence but it would not stay. I went to shut the water off.

DUH! Shut the water off and the hose stops moving. I was soaking wet for nothing, and all the kids outside were laughing hysterically. I fastened it once again, this time clamping the hose from all sides to the fence. It worked. Through all of this commotion, there was only 20 minutes left, and still not one was there to help. The baby pool was _STILL_ not collecting water... The drain was not plugged.

By now there were plenty of kids out front waiting. Plenty of kids and no parents with them, and no lifeguards to open the pool. No manager to admit them in either.

"When can I go swimming?" I heard.

"Hello?" I looked around seeing emptiness.

"When can I go swimming?" He said. It was the little boy.

"Um, soon, maybe. I don't rightly now; if no one else shows up it is just going to be me."

"Wanna see my special talent?" He asked.

"I better not right now. I still have things to get done until you get to come in and swim." That was a lie. I had most everything done. All I had left to do was spontaneously multiply so there would be more lifeguards. I would get more pay that way too! "But maybe later," I added with a smile.

"I walked into the office and called all of the other pools for help. The earliest someone could come was 3 in the afternoon. I took it. I wanted the day off, but money seemed more prevalent. It was too easy to sit there and get paid, so I did.

'_Boy, I just told you, weren't you paying attention?' _"At 3." I said as I walked in.

"Wanna see my special talent?" He asked.

"Not right now."

Of course just as I locked the gate Dwayne showed up. "What's with all this? Why are all the kids outside and not in there?"

"Because you are late and I have been the only one here. We have some one coming at three. Until then, I guess, we can stay in the office."

"I think I'm going to get in then."

"You probably shouldn't, but whatever."

Kids came and left, but it wasn't until 3:30 did another lifeguard appear and we could open. Because of this we had to change the lifeguard rotation.

As the kids paid, I counted 34 kids. It's not a big number, but when you are on stand all day in the beating sun it would feel like it is. And that little boy never came through. I became rather curious as to his whereabouts so I went out and checked.

There I saw him lying against the hot brick wall, asleep. And there I let him sleep.

When I decided to go on my rotation, I walked back out to where the boy was and woke him. "Come with me," was all I said. He slowly got up and followed me to my lifeguard stand. "You can sleep here," I said, then turned to explain how the day was going to go for the lifeguards.

A few hours later, after being on all of the lifeguard chairs, I noticed him again. Sitting at me, smiling. I forgot about him!

"Are you awake now?"

"Mom says I'm special." He replied. At least he has a mom.

"Everybody is special."

"My mom said I'm _very_ special," he rebutted.

"I think I would agree to that." I said to him as I climbed the lifeguard chair.

"Mommy says no one is special like me."

I stopped and turned, only a little peeved, and said, "If you were anymore special, your name would be—"

"ED!" '_Go figure_.' "Come on, we got to go!" It was his mom.

"Alright," he said walking away.

"Did you have fun?" I heard her say as he entered the car.

"Yeah. I wanna come back tomorrow." That was the last I heard from him as the car drove away.

"That was interesting," I said out loud to myself.

"What was?" Someone in the pool heard.

Other than the fact we had no lifeguards, the day went ok.

The following day was a repeat of the first, only the manager decided to show up.

Dwayne showed up early, and so did Ed.

"When can I go swimming?"

"Later," I replied and rushed in.

When he finally got in the pool, the he lingered by the highest edge of the shallow end, clinging to the wall, shaking in utter fear. I called to him over to where I was, "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Water too big."

"Water too big? What do you mean by 'water too big?"

"Water too big."

"Do you want to go to that pool over there?"

"Uh-huh."

I pointed to the bench he sat in the day before. "You sit there, I will take you when I can."

We had more lifeguards today, so we didn't have to stay on the stands all day long. When my rotation came up I walked him over to the kiddie pool. No sooner did Ed step into the pool did the manager come running out. "What are you doing? He's too old. Go back to the pool boy."

"He's afraid of the water there."

"He can stay in the shallow end."

"He's afraid of the **water**. Not the shallow end, the **water**."

"How old are you boy?" The manager asked.

Ed raised his hands holding ten fingers. "This many."

"He may be ten, but he thinks like he is this many," I said raising four fingers.

"Fine, but only today. And don't expect much for the rest of the week.

All afternoon he sat playing in the water with the children half his size as happy as he could be. And there he stayed until "Ed!" The drive by screaming again. "Let's go!" She waited. "ED!"

Ed got dressed and began to leave. He stopped short of the exit and turned, looking about sporadically. He appeared to be looking for something, but confused when he couldn't find it. He saw me, smiled and waved, and next thing I knew was he and the car were gone.

"I hope you are proud of yourself," the manager exclaimed after closing. "Now more kids are wanting to go to the baby pool because of you and that kid."

I looked at him, turned, and started walking out mumbling, "You were gone two days ago, left pool unsupervised, and loose keys. You show up late today and have the gall to talk to me about Ed and his problem. For once you did the right thing. And you didn't even realize it."

"What?!"

"You did the right thing," I repeated.

"I did no such thing."

"—realize it."

The following day when I arrived I was all alone, again, but this time there were no kids waiting outside. This was very odd for a weekend. Even more odd was that all of the doors inside were open, but the gates were all locked. Mr. Manager must be thinking a bit more now. Bored out of my mind I went back to my car and waited. Even more bored there, I went to the playground and swung. As time grew and no one showed, I fretted opening would become devastating. I climbed the fence.

Ten minutes before opening time, the manager came in. "We need to speak to you." I still had a lot to do before the pool was ready to open. With the manager came _his_ supervisor.

"I hear you've been usurping responsibility recently."

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Well you have been here trying to run the pool."

"Hard not to when I am the only one here. Point in case, when you arrived, it was just me here."

"I understand that. What is this about a boy?"

"Ed is afraid of big water. If he were here you'd see him and understand."

"But he's not."

"Ed is special."

"How so?"

"He's .. um... slow."

"Slow. I see."

"Mentally slow."

"And?"

"And nothing. He's mentally four and is appropriate for the baby pool. Not only physically appropriate but socially. He can't interact in the big pool."

"He's ten and too big."

"All you are seeing is numbers, not the people. If you want to look at numbers, where was the manager two days ago when it was just me? Every pool, I called them all, can verify that. Even the sub."

"This isn't about him."

It's about Ed."

"It's about you."

"Then how about I go home and not repeat any of this?"

"That's fine."

"Except I'm the only one here, and you would lose all incoming funds because you can't open, or it will be too late."

"I can get subs."

"Then some would already be coming. I tried subs, no one wants to come here."

"I can make them."

"Then you'd be dictatorial."

"Such big words for a little girl."

"The point remains."

"Remains nothing. What I say goes. I run the pool and I have the final word here. Go home."

"Ok. But let me say one thing."

"No you—"

"-Money was made when I ran the pool shorthanded and everyone was happy. How much will be made today and how many people will get upset in the process?" I said and walked off. I didn't even pay attention to what he said back. As I got in my car I saw Ed arrive.

After a day of shopping, it was work as usual. I arrived to a surprising full roster of staff. Everyone came and everyone was early.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He called us all-," said Dwayne.

"At five last night. Said if we weren't here at noon we'd all be fired," interrupted Darcy. Quietly and quickly, the pool was set up. Most of it was still up from the night before, and for the first time in weeks we had time to eat lunch. An hour to eat was very uncommon.

The pool supervisor did show up. Primarily to see if everyone came, but he had to berate us to work more. (It takes one person an hour to set everything up. He had all of the people there one and a half-hours early. You do the math.)

When I caught up to him he wouldn't say anything to me, so I talked first. "Did you meet Ed?"

"No," was his short reply.

"Well he's out there now. He's been here the other days this week. I see it odd he skipped the one day!"

"Yes, well, he did."

"Funny..." I paused. "You should meet Ed, then you might learn."

We had more than enough staff to cover the day. With everyone there and every position covered, we had 30-minute breaks, which is bad. But he went and closed the baby pool – just to prove a point. That made our breaks even longer.

Ed did not know where to go. He was standing by the baby pool fence, confused. The pool supervisor noticed this and went to talk to him. I was across the other side but I could still make out the conversation. The supervisor pointed to the big pool and I could hear Ed exclaim "Water too big!" again. Moments later he was in the big pool, crying.

"See, he can do it." The supervisor said to me as he walked by.

"You know, the first part if dictator is 'dic.'

"Yeah, so."

"Never mind."

Soon after I heard three whistles, signaling an emergency. I looked towards the shallow end and Ed was gone.

He wasn't gone as much as he had gone under – and had not come back up. Of all the things I've done for this kid, I wasn't about to let this happen. I moved everyone out of my way to get to him. The lifeguard who was on their way shifted course and began getting everyone else out of the water. When I pulled him out I checked his vital signs, and he was not breathing. '_Of all the luck'_ I thought. '_You go out of your way to help a kid out just to be undermined by someone higher than you, and all that you have done is wasted.'_ After giving one breath, he coughed up the water he inhaled and was breathing. He opened his eyes, looked at me, and smiled.

I looked up, searching for the pool supervisor, but he was no where to be seen. AS the others moved Ed to a bench I got my towel to dry off. He was walking out to his truck.

"The baby pool is fine," the manager said. "He told me before he left."

"Why'd he leave?" I asked tying my towel around my neck.

"I don't know."

I walked back to Ed sitting on the bench. "How do you feel?"

"I'm ok. How do you feel?" He asked with a huge grin.

"Relieved." We were unable to get a hold of anyone at home for him to inform them of what had just occurred.

"Do you want to see my special talent?"

"Sure Ed. Sure. Let's see your special talent."

He got up and walked to the baby pool where the hose was still at, picked it up, leaned back and said "Look! I'm peeing!" as a large stream projected itself to the other side of the baby pool.

Everyone that saw him was laughing at him but me. For the first time I was laughing with him.

When his mom picked him up, she was told about his accident and wandered why he was not in the baby pool. The manager couldn't explain, so they got in the car and then began to drive off, but the car suddenly stopped. He got out and ran back in and came straight up to me.

"Did you forget something?"

"Yes," he said and wrapped his arms around me.

A couple of tears rolled down my face before he let go. His mom yelled for him to go and he left without a word.

I completely forgot my cape was still on until I was getting ready to leave for home. I took it off and found a note stuck to it. 'Thank you' was scribbled on it.

"You're welcome," I said out loud.

I may be a lifeguard but I am not just any lifeguard. I these kids' eyes I _am_ super and they look up to me; of course, in their eyes I have a cape too!


	3. 3 Be The Rain

Be The Rain

The summer remained a rather long and uneventful one. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, not at our pool at least. Lifeguards came and went, showed and did not show. The only thing that remained constant was me. I was always there.

The final week of swim lessons was beginning this week. The head guard was in charge of swim lessons and had us regular guards as helpers. However, he disappeared from the pool weeks ago, only to make appearances here and there. That left me to teach the lessons. He was kind enough to sign the lesson cards though.

I had the extreme pleasure of beginning swim lessons myself. The joys of taking individual child after child three feet from the wall to find out how well they sink (instead of float) gets exasperating. Deducing their level placement with very little placement experience was a highlight to my morning, discovering everyone cannot float and therefore all get put in the first level. They will all forget what they learned by the next summer, it seems such a waste of time. Nevertheless, it was as strenuous three hours as I began three classes solo.

About twenty minutes before the pool opened, the pool supervisor visited. With him came two unfamiliar faces he explained as replacement guards. Since fall was nearing, many of the guards were leaving for school. I, then, was there to 'show them the ropes.'

"There they are," I sarcastically said pointing to the dividing ropes already floating in the pool. Replacement guards are meant to replace, yet, this pool was losing no staff. This pool HAD no staff. No one cared to come to work! "Does this mean it is just us three finishing the year? Or do you expect more help?" I asked. I knew I was the only stability there.

"This is it for now. All of the guards here are finishing out the year. No one has quit. If more people come I will decide which pool is in dire need and has lost guards." I really hated political ambiguous replies to answers. He could have simply said 'no.'

"I will be honest with you. Working at this pool is no picnic. It is run down, understaffed, and over utilized. I come everyday, sometimes other guards do as well. I just learned not to count on them anymore. You will see what I mean eventually. My name is—"

"Shelly," the boy interrupted. "SuperShelly by what I hear. I am TJ, and this," he said pointing to the person behind him who was not there, "Is my sister, Thebe. Wait, she's gone."

"What did he tell you about working here?" I asked trying to be nice.

"Well, it is pretty standard to how we did things back home. We go on stand, and every fifteen minutes we rotate. The final spot is break."

"There is more to it than that," I said pointing towards the deep end. "That is the first stand. Second stand is the shallow end. Baby pool comes next. Now and then we have someone on deck, if we are that busy. However, normally I sit on deep end all day. If someone else comes they get the shallow end. It just kind of progresses like that. With you and your sister we will have two stands and a break. So that will be nice. Where is back home?"

"What's that? Oh, we are from Green Valley, Alaska. Why is the pool not open yet?"

"It opens are 1:30 PM. Hot and late I think they really like to torment us here. Alaska? You lifeguard in Alaska? With snow and all?"

"Yeah, it is a port town. More near the coast and kind of near Washington," he said.

"And it rained every f***in' minute. I swear we got more rain than Seattle."

"Meet Thebe."

"Hi."

"Hi. Say, who do we have to be here at f***ing nine in the morning?"

"Um, I'm not sure. Swim lessons go on soon after that. Maybe that is why."

"You will have to excuse my sister, since our dad died a year ago, she, well, she's been like this."

"F*** you." Thebe said and walked out.

"What was that all about?" I asked after she left.

"She used to be good and upstanding, but dad died. Since then mom has just been nagging her. We came here to basically have a vacation from her."

"Why here of all places?"

"Family. This was the only place we could go. So why do they call you SuperShelly?"

"Well that is a long and interesting story," I said, telling of the kids and the towel and how the cape came to be and how the image stuck. "What is your sister doing? We need to get her back here and show her what is going on since she didn't get the grand tour."

We went around to the side of the building, and there standing in the shade was Thebe, smoking.

"Smoking again, Thebe? Why are you doing this?" TJ said with a sigh.

"Smoking is bad for you. And I don't think you are old enough to—" I began to lecture.

"I'm old enough to make my own decisions, so shut the f*** up."

"We need you to put that out so we can go show you what goes on today and how we are rotating, and all that jazz. I still need to show you the guard room – where to put al your things. We are about to open, so we haven't that much time left."

"S***, I can figure it out. I'm a big girl. Rotation means we go from place to place, and I will follow TJ. That's solved. This room behind me is where I put my s***. I figured since all this other f***'in s*** is in there, that is where we go."

"Yeah, that is the guard room. But you can have a locker."

"Fine, let's go." She quipped back at me. Flicking her cigarette towards the ground.

"Aren't you going to put that out? We don't need to start a fire. That is the last thing we need here."

"It will go out by itself soon enough. I've been doing this for a year and haven't started a f***'in fire yet. Just chill. D***."

After giving them each a locker, the pool was open. Thankfully it was not as warm out as other days and out level of kids was not too high. Thebe was late on every rotation. I reminded and reminded her that she only gets a fifteen minute break but each one ended up being over thirty. Either way, I have gotten used to it. Being from Alaska, TJ complained about the heat incessantly. All in all, the day was rather pleasant. For once I had a few breaks, however abbreviated they were. Plus, I had someone to talk to.

The following morning I showed up shortly before my first class. Amazingly enough they were both there. TJ was skimming the pool. Thebe was sleeping in the guard room. But she was there nevertheless.

I introduced the class to their new instructor. I figured if Thebe was going to be sleeping every morning, TJ and I could handle the first class, Thebe and I could do the second, and they do the third together. We'd all be out of one class. However, waking Thebe for her class was an event all in of its own.

Thebe is not a morning person by any definition of the phrase. I walked into the guard room and said, "Thebe, it's time for you to wake up. You have class soon." She kin of rolled over. "Thebe," I said louder, "wake up." She moaned. I went to ask TJ how to wake her. All he could tell me was good luck and she is impossible to wake up.

I walked back into the guard room, tried to sit her up, but she fell right over. I tried slapping her face lightly with her own hand, but nothing happened. I tried slapping her harder, but still nothing. "Thebe, wake up!" I finally yelled. She rolled over again and moaned 'go away.' At this point I knew she was aware. I had an idea.

"Kids," I said, "Do your parents ever have trouble awaking your brothers and sisters?" My second class of swim lessons sighed a yes in unison. "I am going to show you the trick RIGHT NOW how to help wake them up. Help them, teach them this trick, but never do it alone. Make sure a parent does this." I had to cover my butt on this one. I did not need some kid telling their parents a lifeguard taught them a bad habit.

I quietly took an empty chlorine bucket to the edge of the pool, motioning for the kids to follow. I dipped it in and retrieved a half full bucket of water. I then walked to the guard room where Thebe lazily laid asleep; went to toss it, stopped just short, and put the bucket down.

"Instead of splashing her, I will once again try to coax her awake," I said placing her hand in the water. "Thebe, wake up." She groaned. I bent over near her and whispered in her ear, "Remember the rain falling in Alaska…drip..drip…drip..drip. Can you see the water rushing, flowing down the streams? Whoosh… Whoosh. WHOOSH!" I yelled, quickly picking up the bucket and dumping it all over her.

She sprung to her feet in such a commotion as she almost tripped over one of the kids, screaming, "What the F--- friggin heck." She noticed the children around and stopped just short. "What's the big deal?"

"We've been trying to wake you up."

"Well, I'm up. And now I have to pee," she said storming off. As she passed me, though without a glance off her step, she whispered, "f***er."

After thirty minutes of being gone to the bathroom, she re-entered the pool area. "You smell like smoke," said one of the kids. I laughed but she was awake now.

After I helped out with the third class of lessons, we set the pool up and ate lunch. TJ and I talked the entire time. It flew by so fast we didn't know what happened. Thebe, on the other hand, was rather upset and left. She came back two minutes before the pool opened, and consequently, got break first. Like the previous day, she was later every time.

I eventually discovered why she was rotating so late. When there were hardly any kids in the pool and we only needed one life guard up, I left TJ to watch and went to find her. She was no where to be found. However, I saw white streaks on the floor. I did later find her on the opposite side of the pool smoking.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"It looks to me like you are smoking again. Which is bad because you are only sixteen by what I hear."

"Yeah, so."

"So, cops drive by all the time."

"I noticed. They drive by and go. They never stop. Look, there goes one now."

"I'm not going to sit here and argue with you."

"So sit."

"You need to get back in and rotate," I said and walked back.

"B****," I heard behind me. I've never been called that before.

At the end of the day I talked to the manager. Just before they left she confronted me. "So you had to go and tattle on me, eh? Don't expect me to work lessons tomorrow. I intend on sleeping in." She said, flipping me both middle fingers and leaving.

As expected, she was completely avoidant of her duties first thing the next morning. Not as expected were the sudden clouds and thunderstorms. Swim lessons went on through as it were to become 'Safety Day.'

'Safety Day' is the general day when we simply go over pool rules, CPR, and other related things. 'Safety Day' also goes by super fast. To slow things down we have the kids read all 10 rules, then have them explain them all.

The first rule on the wall was _Walk, don't run. _

"Why is that?" I asked. They all knew the answer to this one.

"If we run and slip we can fall and hurt ourselves."

_Only appropriate swimming apparel must be worn at all times._

One of the students stuttered through reading this second rule. "We do this because we don't want to get out clothes wet."

"Yes, plus regular clothes are not meant to be in the pool. They can fall apart or change colors. Who would like to read rule number three?"

_No food or drink outside the designated food area._

"I don't know why that is," said the reader.

"Anyone want to guess?" Maybe this is why no one obeys this rule. "Ok, I will just tell you. If something were to get in to the pool, it can hurt the pool. Things can get stuck in the filters or make the water yucky. This also goes along with the next rule. Will you read this one?" I said asking the person nearest the rules.

_Swimmers must always shower before getting in the water._

"Very good. From running around all day, you get sweaty. And a lot of people put hair pray and other things in their hair which makes the water yucky. You probably have seen the corner of the pool, as sometimes there is stuff floating. That is from people not showering well and things from the concession stand. Rule five." I said pointing to the next kid.

_No diving except off the diving board._

"This is so no one can get hurt," the child said.

"Right, very good. Rule six is very important." It was about this time Thebe made her appearance and stood in the background. "Who wants to read rule six?"

_No smoking inside the pool area._

"This is a rule because not everyone likes to smoke and smoke gets into the water."

"Well, yes. The cigarettes or whatever could. But also burned from or start a fire which is also bad."

_No alcohol on the premises._

"Alcohol is bad because it can make the pool yucky."

"Yes, and alcohol makes people act differently too. People can get sick from smoking and drinking alcohol."

_No glass bottles or containers._

"This is because glass can break and people can step on glass and get hurt." Our class was pretty bright, but some of them had lessons before.

"Glass bottles aren't so bad," Thebe interjected. "You just have to be careful. I like to use glass to toss to the bottom of the pool for kids to get. They learn how to hold their breath."

I sat and looked at her for a second with an 'are you crazy' look about my face. "Maybe where you came from you could do that, but not here," I told her but she turned her back.

"Whatever," she said walking off.

_No horseplay._

"This rule means… um.."

"It is just like rule five."

"No diving. Um… so no one gets hurt?"

"Yes, no horseplay so no one gets hurt. This means even though you know what you are doing that someone who is watching and tried to do the same thing can still get hurt. So no horseplay for everyone so we are fair to everyone."

_No floatation devices._

"You don't want floatation devices so you can learn how to swim."

"In a way yes, we do not want people to get dependant on floaties. Plus, there is another reason. Does anyone know why? No? Lifeguards can't see behind or under them in case someone drowns or gets hurt. So we keep them out so everyone is safe."

_Obey all lifeguards._

"We have to obey all the lifeguards so we don't get in trouble."

"Well, kind of. Lifeguards are looking out for everyone's safety. So when a lifeguard blows their whistle everyone needs to look. Sometimes it might be a good thing."

With all of the rules read, we took the kids on a tour. This was another way to kill time. Then we went over ways to help if someone was choking or not breathing. On the tour, Thebe was no where to be seen. You would think when a group hits every corner you'd see everything, but even TJ was stumped.

It turned out she left. We did not realize this until the pool was about to open its gates. She showed up with two brown paper sacks and came up to me and her brother. WE asked what she had but she would not tell. She went back to the guard room.

TJ and I stayed up front and talked the entire time while playing cards. Days like these are boring.

"So what is it like living with her?" I asked after she left.

"Not too bad. She used to be a good and very gently person. Then dad died and things changed. I'm not sure coming here made anything better for her."

"So do you have a girlfriend back home?" I just had to ask; it had been eating at me.

"No. No I haven't since… Shoot, I don't remember. It's been a while, since right before he died, I think. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No, but I'm looking!" I said starring straight at him. I took the pile of cards off the counter we were playing war and I had just won a lot of cards.

Just then Thebe showed her face again. "Look," she said, "I think we got off to a bad start. I am sorry, so have a drink on me," she pulled out a beer from her sack and tried handing it to me.

"You do realize this is wrong. I don't drink, so you may as well take that back."

"I went out of my way to—" she began.

"Don't bother. I simply do not drink alcohol."

"Don't interrupt me. Look, I went out of my way to get these just go make amends and you won't even try. Do you realize how hard it was to get these? Especially for me?"

"No, but you did. The point is I'm too young. So are you, but you do not seem to care."

"I go and try to make peace and you are making me angry." She started throwing the bottle across the room, shattering it against the wall. "I hope you are happy. I wasted 20 bucks on you."

"I didn't say I don't accept your apology. I said I don't drink. By your tone (and breath), I see that your amends were based only on what you bought, and not meant from your heart. If you were truly sorry you would understand that I do not partake in the illegal consumption of alcohol. And let's not begin to mention the pool rules this violates."

This upset her more as she pulled the remaining bottles and tossed them about, a few nearly hitting me. "B****" she yelled after hurling each one.

She soon stormed off in a fit of rage. "Is she always like this or what?" I asked TJ. I was shaken, and rightfully so. I have never had someone so hatefully throw breakable objects at me. "Is she going to clean that up?" I asked TJ referring to the broken glass all over the inside of the building.

Confused and bewildered, TJ tried to reply, "She's… not. No, she's not like this, not mad. This is a new side of her. I'll go--talk to her, I guess, and see what's up. When we go home, I'll call you.

I have the best conversation all summer and it ends in a rage of broken glass and flying beer. At least as I began cleaning up and he left, he said he would call me, and he did.

"She wouldn't tell me anything," TJ said after the normal pleasantries. "All she would say is 'Someday it will reign on you."

"Rain on me? It rained on me went I went home."

"Not like that. More like – reign over you. I don't know. Something. Anyways, I told her she needs to stop harassing you, for me."

"Aww, how sweet," I sarcastically replied, "A little love and affection."

"It's everything I've got. She IS my sister. It's only me and her anymore. We left mom…"

"I'm sorry. Really, I didn't mean anything by it, honestly. I was just --"

"I know, you were just playing. All my life it has been just me and her. Just us really. Things have changed. We've grown up. Dad's gone. Mom's, well, mom is gone too. She's too far away, and not just because she is in Alaska, but--"

"In her head, she seems distant. I know what you mean." I know people like that too; people that just aren't there.

"And now… I don't know."

"Now what?"

"And now… There is you. She is fighting you. I don't know why. I really like you and all, that is why this bothers me when she does these things. I think she thinks that you are replacing her."

"How? That is simply impossible."

"I know. It's no big deal. She can just deal with it."

"Well, OK. Whatever you think is best."

"It is late and I need to get some sleep. I guess we will have to let things go as they are and see how things progress. I will see you tomorrow."

"Very well. I'll see you tomorrow, assuming the weather holds out for us and it doesn't rain all day." We hung up. No matter what that girl had done, I felt happy. Because of that phone call I felt happier that I had before. I was thrilled.

He called me right back. "I forgot one thing."

"Yes, what's that?"

"After work tomorrow, would you like to... um... go to a movie?" He sounded rather stressed.

"Sure! Which one?"

"We have tomorrow to decide that."

"OK."

"Well, I'm going to bed now. Good night."

"Good night." I have a date! I had no idea what I was going to wear. I'll just take clothes to work and change after.

Of course it rained all night. When I _did_ arrive to the pool, it was over flowing with water, flowing past the edges. Someone forgot to turn the gutters on. This time, however, there were leaves from trees, making a lid over the entire pool. The funny thing it there are no trees anywhere in sight from the pool!

When I saw him, I was delighted. "So what are we going to see tonight?" I spoke too soon, Thebe was right there.

"I don't know. I think we will just have to get off at six, maybe get something to eat, and see what is playing right after that. Maybe we can go see that one movie: 'Inflamed.'"

"That is great. I want to see that movie. I even brought clothes to wear after work to change into. I have it in my locker so it doesn't get rained on, because it looks like it is going to rain, again."

Thebe left soon before our conversation became interrupted by the manager. "I've got news for you… The office scheduled a pool rental tonight. They told me about it just this morning. Either way, don't make plans. Also, it looks like rain again, so instead of sending you away to come again, if we do not open, we just stay and clean."

"OK," I said and he left. "He really doesn't include himself when he says 'we.' He means us lifeguards." I said to TJ, aside.

"I had figured that much," he replied.

All afternoon the two of us cleaned; bathroom mostly. It did not rain; it did not even drop one hint of rain, but being as dark outside as it was, no one felt like coming. It was cold too. Therefore, TJ and I got the luxurious task of cleaning. Thebe disappeared again.

We found Thebe in the guard room. She had a plastic soon and a lighter, lit. She was melting the plastic and making it drip on the floor, and there it hardened.

"We need to clean in here now," I told her. "You can either help us or not. The manager does not seem to care where you go or what you do, but we are at least going to do our job."

She soon left and we spent the rest of the afternoon reorganizing the guardroom. We needed to tidy up since the pool season was nearly over. We were exhausted but it was still nice having all day to spend together. It was fairly peaceful too.

When we had finished, we had 30 minutes to eat before the rental group came. That gave us just enough time to go get food, come back, and not eat it. OR, just enough time to starve. Thebe, we learned, left a long time ago and brought food back, for her brother. Away from her presence, he fed me too.

We ate for a while, sharing food back and forth. This was a slow and tedious process being we had just cleaned the entire building and did not want to make a mess and redo everything. We finished (and kept it clean) just in time for the manager to come around.

"Well, the rental people called. They decided today was not such a good day for them and rescheduled. They said it was too dark and cold. So you are all free to go." He turned to leave. "Just make sure everything is locked up," he sighed walking out.

"Well that was a wasteful day," TJ said.

"Not entirely. We still had--" I tried replying but was interrupted.

"We did nothing all day and missed our movie."

"We can still go to a later one."

"We may as well just go home," he said as if he did not hear me. "I have to go find my sister." He spoke walking out.

"We still had time together," I said behind him.

We found Thebe, TJ did with me chasing after, in the front room, smoking. The manager was in the parking lot driving away. We still had to close everything. That job became my task since I knew what to do. TJ, though, stayed back to talk with Thebe, which was fine because I thought I could do it faster not having to explain in detail all the steps and get us to a movie quicker.

That was pretty much the case. I got done faster, but there was a problem. When I got back to the front, which was the only place left to lock, I found them arguing.

"Just take her to the movie. I don't give a f*** what you do anymore." Thebe was screaming.

"It is too late for a movie," he replied.

"It is not and you know it. She even told you that you could just go to a later one."

"I still have to take you home."

"I can walk home."

"It is too far."

"Just don't do this. You go watch your 'Engulfed'--"

"'Inflamed,'" I butted in.

"'Engulfed,' 'Inflamed,' whatever. Take your girlfriend and go." His girlfriend?

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Yeah, but you want her to be. So go- Go to your movie…" She looked down at her hand, and then back up at him. "Or do you want to live it here?" She said lunging at us her lit cigarette. I jumped back, but he didn't.

"Stop. Thebe. Stop." He said giving her a discerning look.

"Make me," she said pulling her lighter from behind a pile of burning melted plastic. He stopped.

"Let's... Let's just go TJ." I urged.

"No." He said starring at her. She lit another spoon melting the plastic. Half melted, she threw the white flaming plastic at him screaming at the top of her lungs. Unsuspectingly, he ducked, and the fire nearly hit me. Instead, it hit the floor. She lit another and threw it; I took this opportunity to remember my clothes in my locker. As quick as I could, I left.

I ran, on the verge of tears, to the locker. TJ followed me in. "What's wrong?" He asked with an uncaring expression on his face.

"She is throwing plastic fireballs at us and you have to ask what is wrong?!"

"She is just upset. It will pass over."

"When? When will it pass over? She's been like this the entire time she has been here. She is becoming fiercer. She is throwing fire!"

"Somewhere inside her is a caring and nurturing--"

"I think that image has gone up in smoke. She cares for no one but herself and even then very little. I just want to leave." I said loudly, closing my locker. "This whole day I was ready for a movie. Now this? What else?"

"We can still go, but I cannot leave her here."

"Let her walk. It might be good for her. Maybe she can figure herself out."

"Or maybe she will become more spiteful. She is my little sister. I cannot do that to her."

"Then what are we going to do? Just sit here and wait? That has not worked yet."

"No, I will think of something. I've got to go to the bathroom. I will think of something in there."

"Fine. And I will go change too." We walked together through the building to our bathrooms. The entrance was near the front where we left Thebe. She was no where in sight and it was oddly warm.

As I stepped into my side, TJ pulled me back by the shoulders. "Listen. I'm not going to let insignificant nuisances get me, or us, down. I think there has been a spark lit between us," he said, drawing me closer to him. _Is he about to kiss me?_ "And I want that spark to be kindled and grow into a warm--" Just as he leaned in to kiss, I heard a loud cracking sound and shoved him away.

A large plank of burning wood fell from the ceiling above. We couldn't get out that way. What's more, the wood was blocking the entrances of both restrooms and we could not get out the back way because they were locked.

"TJ!" I yelled, lost and dazed. "TJ! Where are you?" I heard no sound. The fire was spreading, and quickly. "TJ!" I yelled again, but heard nothing again. "HELP!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "TJ! Thebe! Someone, HELP!"

Moments later I heard a noise across the burning building. "Shelly!"

"I'm here. Who is here?"

"Shelly," I heard once more and ran to the wall that was nearest the cry.

"TJ!" I yelled again.

"Shelly, is that you?"

"Yes. TJ, Help me."

"I can't. I'm trapped."

"Me too. Where's Thebe?" We were yelling through the walls.

"Thebe!" he yelled.

"THEBE!" In unison we screamed, but heard nothing. We were stuck in the burning building and the fire was growing in the bathroom.

"TJ?"

"Save us, Thebe, for another day." I screamed.

"You can do this, Thebe. You can make a difference if you really try," he yelled.

"How?"

"Be the rain you remember falling," I yelled. It was the first thing I thought of.

"Be the rain," TJ repeated. "Be the rain."

We needed more that that. We needed a tsunami. "Be the ocean as it... as it rolls along." Ok, I admit it's not as good as the other.

"Be the rain." TJ agreed. "Be the rain."

"BE THE RAIN," I joined him at the top of my lungs. Then I felt drops of water steaming from my head. The black smoke was mixing with white. _Was this a bad dream_, I thought. _Would we ever get out?_ The fire was growing. The water was barely coming in. "Be the rain, Thebe," I prayed, too hoarse to scream anymore and laying on the ground, trying the get the best air I could. _Be the Rain._

Paramedics came and brought us out. TJ and I were the only ones there. Thebe was gone. She had disappeared before we got out of the flames. The paramedics checked us over, and then let us go. The building was still on fire as we entered our separate cars and drove off. It was pouring so hard I drove 20 miles an hour home, and I don't remember how I got there. I don't remember saying goodbye to TJ. All I remember is the fire and then seeing TJ as we left in the pouring rain.

The next morning I received a phone call telling me to write down what had happened the night before and bring it in at one. When I arrived at the pool, I could see only one wall still smoking from what once stood an entire building. The pool water was charcoal black and grimy. Everything else had burned overnight.

The pool supervisor took my written statement I wrote earlier that morning and rudely told me the obvious. He said there was no way the pool would reopen this year and that we should just clean everything we can. He said if I was lucky, I might be able to fill in at another pool, but he would not be able to promise me that. Ironically, I began cleaning.

TJ showed up soon after and went through the same routine that I did, alone. He came up to me in tears. Thebe refused to come back he told me. He said he saw a different person. It looked like one had been blocked and held back, and now she was startled.

"Last night," he went on, "she said she tried to help. She started the pool hose over the fire but that did not do much good. Eventually the fire melted the hose. But that was just in time for the fire department to arrive."

"Did she start it?"

"We- They don't know yet."

"Where did she go?"

"She wouldn't say. All she said was she was finally clean and wanted to go home."

"What does that mean?"

"She wants to go back to Alaska."

"But you can't. I mean we--"

"I don't know what is going to happen yet. We will just have to see."

We had been cleaning the burnt ashes and remnants of the pool building all afternoon when the fire department came up to us in our final room, the guard room. They told us they found the reason spread so much was due to a flammable substance all over the walls. As of yet, they had no cause for the fire beginning and with the amount of damage, it may be hard to pin point. But they were thinking it had to do with the rain and the power outlets malfunctioning. "It's like soaking wood with gasoline. Once the wood has absorbed the gas it will go up in flames."

Outside the wall, TJ and I were finishing up cleaning the guard room. Everything had been pretty much destroyed, sparring a few half burned items.

"Hey Shelly. What's this?" TJ asked pulling out a large box with a T decorated diamond etched on it. "There is stuff fin here, and it looks untouched. Why did we not see this yesterday?"

"What's in it?" I asked as he began opening the box.

"Not sure. Hold on," he said pulling out its contents. "This towel with a lot of happy faces." He looked up with a grin on his face. "Looks like SuperShelly has a new cape!"

"That looks familiar," I smiled. I liked the towel and put it on immediately. It fit nicely. "What else is in there?" I asked hoping for more treasures.

"Just this," he said pulling out a chain from the box, "a chain?"

"Let me have that too," I said taking hold of it.

"This chain? What for?"

"It's a memento."

That box was the last ting we had to do. "Let's go home," TJ said. With my new cape flowing in the wind, for some unknown reason I stopped and turned around. The flames were long gone, but the memories linger on. Not all were bad; some were good. The good always comes with the bad. The chain that I tightly held in my hand will remind me of everything that happened here, of the happiness and the sadness.


	4. 4 Summer of Rebirth

Summer Of Rebirth

We did not know it at first, but since the pool opened, money had been falling out of a certain persons swim shorts. We had noticed by miracle that money materialized near the drain. This happened, oddly, everyday.

I was new to this pool so I was unaware of the situation at first. I was not positioned at my refurbished general pool since the incident that closed it.

The lifeguard fund was created for the reason. We would generally find $1 or $5 bill daily at the bottom of the pool. At the close of the pool, we'd send someone to gather the money and add to the fund.

The lifeguard fund was a general fund that supported the lifeguards. Lunches and pop were usually bought from it, as well as the occasional ice cream man stop.

I, though, get bored on the stand, and begun thinking of other ways to spend the collected money. I thought finally that we could make a trip up state to the big amusement park at the end of the summer, saving enough money for us all. Everyone liked this idea.

My boyfriend was back home in Alaska. He took his sister home after last season's ending fire, and has only returned on a few visits here and there. I have not been able to visit him because I could not afford it; he always visited me.

It was him who suggested I start diving for the gold myself. I go save that money up, not turning it all in, and visit him for once. He also suggested me to be on the lookout, not only because I was finding money for myself, but so maybe I could figure out who it was leaving it and get to the bottom early. Though he's visited, I still feel lonely. We've had to resort to phone calls, which become rather expensive being long distance.

Every time I was on the deep end stand I was paying attention, trying to see money fall out of pockets. This task is really not as easy as I had hoped. People tend to splash; water is cloudy; it is just plain hard. Since the deep end was the final stop in the lifeguard rotation, I decided to dive in to "cool off." Nothing was there.

I was hot and wet and now dripping from the enjoyment I just acquired. I got my towel out to dry off but rather elated from my wettening, I just carried it with me. Before I knew it, I was on the stand again, still wet, and still with my towel.

The towel quickly became a cape as the heat beat down on my back. These resent summer afternoons have been cloudless and extremely hot. Even with umbrella's hanging overhead, there is not much to stop the beating sun from pummeling our backs. The only things to stop that are wearing a shirt, or towel, or jump in. Shirts are out of the question, and jumping in isn't allowed. And every now and then, if I were lucky, a nice kid would swim by and get my cape wet.

Jumping in, however, is not allowed until we are on break. When my break came back around, I tried for the money again. Straight off the guard stand I dove towards the water, but money is not what I saw.

As I reached closer and closer to the bottom, it became more and more apparent that my cape was sitting on top of the drain. _How could that be?_ I thought. I swam to grab a hold of it, but it seemed to keep moving further and further away. Either that or I was just floating away. Being that my legs never stopped kicking, I was fairly sure that was not it, but still....

Not reaching the bottom, I pulled my way back to the top. As my head broke the barrier I took a huge gasp of air. I felt like I had lost all of my air and had been under for too long. And my towel was still on my back. _What the heck __**was**__ that?_

"Maybe it was a reflection," said TJ after I explained it to him, "Or a mirage, like in the desert. You did say it was real hot."

"A mirage? Seriously, come on. **In** the water? I don't think so."

"Well excuse me then. I was trying to..."

"But a mirage? I think that maybe I was just tired. Yeah. I was tired, that is why I never reached the bottom. And seeing the towel, well, maybe it just got in front of me. Or at least it looked like mine, with the faces and all..." I began to ponder. "Anyways, we should not stay up as late anymore, at least, let me get some rest."

I went to bed early that night. I was perplexed to say the least, but I had been tired and still was thinking that that was what it was.

At the pool the next day I felt refreshed. That's not entirely true, I faked it. I was scared. I barely slept at all. I told a few of the other guards and they all thought that the sun was just getting to me. I got to run the register and stay inside. I was happy.

While at register I noticed a few people coming in with a lot of money. A lot really more being multiple dollar bills – like in a big wad. But that got me thinking that one of these people must be the person losing money in the pool. I recognized most of them. Since I had the time to sit and stare at the pool while people were not showing up to pay, I watched for a couple of them to go off of the diving boards. Once I got someone to fill in, I took a break and dove in myself. Low and behold, $5 was slowly dangling its way to the drain.

When I got back to the register, the other guard asked where I was. "I dived again."

"Dove," said the manager coming up behind me.

"I dove again. Whatever. Dived, dove, either way I found money to add to the fund."

One of the two kids I was watching left the money. There was not any easy way to be sure which, not without watching both, but when one of them came to me for change, I have a thought. I would make the change, but see if I would find the same money later on.

At the end of the day my marked money showed back up. It was a good day. I had no weird images like yesterday.

That night was a short phone call again with TJ. I tried telling him my good news but he would not listen. He kept bothering me about watching other guys and not trying to spend time with him. I tried to explain but he was dead set. I hung up. I really did not like him bursting my bubble, but it was not popped.

The next day I was in rotation again. The other guards told me to make sure I had my cape on as to not get too overly hot. About thirty minutes after we opened I saw the same kid again. I was guarding the deep in and he was going off the diving board.

I took a moment to sit and think. I was about to become one rich girl. I could literally see the money wafting to the bottom. Rich. When my break came, I dove, cape and all, straight for it, sliding through the water swiftly. But when I touched the money I saw something, someone, over to the side. It would normally not have bothered me, but it looked grimly familiar. At that point I began screaming. It was someone I knew, or at least someone I think I used to know. I could not remember. He was lying on the bottom and looking up at me. And that was enough to scare me straight out of the water, but it didn't. No, I turned to scurry my scared butt back to the air but instead of going up, I went further under. I think I forgot how to swim or was going the wrong way until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I saw a white kind of glowing hand bringing further away from the living side then back up. I closed my eyes as I broke the water's surface and then it was gone. Everything was, except for the $1 bill I firmly grasped, and the air.

I got out of the pool crying. I was frightened, not because I was seeing images of dead people at the bottom of the pool and weird white hands drowning me. No, I was frightened because something was wrong with my head, and I have never had that problem before. It was too early in the day for this and it was not even all that hot. I went straight to the cash register and traded the wet dollar for a dry one. I needed a drink desperately, a cold, hard, carbonated one.

I was hysterical when I got out, or so they told me. I was unable to work so they sent me home. I called TJ immediately, but he did not answer. He never answers. When he did call me back an hour later, I was still shaken.

"What's wrong now?" He asked first thing.

"It happened again."

"What did?"

"I saw something. In the pool. It wasn't pretty. This one bothers me."

"Why? What was it?"

"A dead person, just sitting at the bottom. But no one was there. They checked. They emptied everyone out, said it was a drill, and no one was down there. All of this horror and just for me to find one dollar. I can't keep going on like this. I can't keep breaking like this. I-"

"You just need rest. You just-"

"Don't tell me how I fell, you have no idea. I got plenty of rest. I don't think you have any idea what it's like to see a dead person just sitting there. And there not be anything there. Real or not this really scared the crap out of me."

"I have. You forgot my dad-"

"Well this is worse. Now I'm seeing things that do not exist. And feeling things. Something touched me. A hand. It reached down and I felt like it was pushing me further. But it wasn't. It was pulling me back."

"Well I'm sorry. What do you want me to do, kiss it and make it better? I can't. I'm too far away. You are SuperShelly. Get over it!"

"I don't know what to do. I can't tell what's real and what's not. I came home and don't know how or what I've done. I'm getting my thoughts in my head confused. Where am I?"

"You're at home. That is where I called you."

"I'm anywhere but home. I feel like I am still drowning at the bottom of the pool."

"Well, I'm sorry. I guess you will just have to toughen up a little; you still have a lot of money to find to make a trip here."

"I'm not getting in that pool again."

"You have to. Maybe you can make friends with it."

"I wanted to talk to you, not have you fight me and scream at me. I feel you are tormenting me daily, because I can't see you, and you talk, well, like this more recently. And I still call."

"What are you saying?"

"The person I saw at the bottom, looked like you a little."

"I'm still here; I'm not dead."

"No, you're not still here. You are there. I am here, wherever here is. I'm by myself out here."

"I'm still with you. I'm still-"

"No you're not. You've been fighting me, making me pull 'us' through the relationship grinder, and still keep the glue for us together. You don't care enough to come often just to be around me or help me come there. With all the money I might find I still wouldn't be able to afford it. I'm not going to let you dictate how my life is run. You can either choose to change your ways for us or change them for you, but you need to choose. I will not continue on like this letting you bring me down with you. I can't do it anymore. I can't keep 'us' together if I can't stay together myself." Just then my phone died. The irony is he never called back, at least not that I know of. The next morning, after it had charged, there were no messages that he had.

I drove to work still shaken and bothered from the day before. Things just aren't going right and I was on a downward spiral to chaos. I've been trying to get other people to give some notion of help for me, but I realize now I am on my own and have been. Just me and my delusional mind.

I went to work because I had to, not because I wanted to. Everyone knew I was not having a good week. Yet safety comes first. I'm supposed to be the adult, or at least the elder to the children swimming, and their safety is coming before mine. My safety was less severe than theirs was and since I was the 'adult' I had to check myself at the door. So I ignored it all, or at least tried.

I went the whole hot and sweaty day without once getting in the water. The kid whose money we were after (finders keepers..) did not show up and I needed to make no rescues. It was a nice and ghost free day.

I decided at that point that whatever was happening was trying to inconvenience me and only did so at times that would not interfere with anything. It would scare me to the point where I could do no more. It did so very easily too. But nothing happened. Maybe I was just so scared from the last apparition, or that I was expecting it, but nothing happened nevertheless. I had peace.

I had peace at home too. TJ never called me back. This was the first night in a long time that I did not talk to him. We usually tried to make time at some point to talk, but not on this night. I began to miss it, and went to bed crying.

I slept very little. This was becoming a routine for me. Even without him calling me he had a grasp over me. I did not wake up until after I arrived at the pool. I cared not to set anything up nor help with the swim lessons everyone else was supposed to do. For some reason I had forgotten the kid had shown up the day before and no one checked for money in the pool. I don't know why I did, but when I did, I met my apparition there.

It was at that point I awoke out of my grogginess. I had the same sinking feeling I always did. I saw my cape again but this time it was not alone. The drowning man I saw had it. I tried to feel around me for my cape but I did not find it. I thought I put it on. It must have fallen off. IU moved myself to take it from the 'ghost' only to have it climb to the top of me as if to save itself from drowning. It kept pushing me down until eventually it was out of the pool. Then the white hand appeared, reaching in for me. I felt it reach my shoulder as it did the last time but I pushed it away. _'I don't want your hand this time, I will save myself,'_ I thought to it.

As tired and wore out as I suddenly became, I pushed and pulled myself up. Standing waste deep in the water, I stood face to glowing whiteness.

I was bewildered about the surrounding happenings. How was all of this possible? I stared in the back of the black holes where the eyes should be. The further back I looked, the more I saw myself there. In the back I saw a little girl trying to win. I saw an older, walking, and carrying lunch in a swimsuit. I saw myself giving CPR, only to myself. It had been two years since I had to actually perform CPR, and it wasn't on myself. I was confused as I felt it was trying to tell me something. The message I got from it was that I don't remember it, not as it seems to remember me.

Out of the water it held my towel, now dry, and handed it to me. I wrapped the towel around my shoulders to keep it out of the water, but I know not why. Then from around my neck it produced the chain I found in the fire. It placed the chain in it's opposite hand and slowly retracting it out of the water, it brought out a shinny new chain. Taking off the end pieces, it fastened the chain around my wrist. Then it became clear.

As it unwrapped the towel from my neck and tied it on my back. Then it turned me sideways and slowly brought me underwater. I suddenly felt exhumed by heat, and when I came up, it was gone. I stood alone in the shallowness of the water, with the cape and chain on me. Everything was crystal clear; I remembered everything.

The funny thing is I did not see the kid with the money appear back at the pool, but he could have just looked different. Different hair, swimsuit. But money was not found as frequent either. But I did not care. I felt free; I wasn't being held down anymore. A huge burden had been finally lifted. I won't be broken again, TJ wouldn't understand, not until he is ready; even I wasn't ready. It's time I begin taking over myself and, as TJ once mentioned, not let the little things keep bringing me down.


	5. 5 Phoenix

Phoenix

I did not understand it at first, how I came to the pool in the dead of winter, but I began to understand it after I left. In the midst of the icy cold frozen pond of a pool stood a creature stuck to the grate in the deep end. Its foot was trapped in the grate at the bottom and iced over, as the snow and rain seemed to pile on it more and more, instantly freezing and further embedding the bird to the pool. The bird did not belong there. This was a problem for both of us. The bird was stuck and about to die. For me to save it meant sliding down the 12 feet of ice and digging it out. Getting out of the bottom of the deep end, with ice instead of water was not an easy task. I used a broken piece of chain lying around the edge of the pool to chip the ice off the bird's foot and free it from the drain. This was next to impossible because as I was doing so, I terrified the animal causing it to frantically flutter about and squealing at me, I assume in pain, not only because it was stuck, but because ice had frozen to its wings restraining it down. Once freed it realized it was not going to fly away. I harbored it under my coat, for it was the only thing that was going to keep it warm. Getting out of the slick pool with a duck flapping like mad under your coat only makes things worse. I fell back twice. I fell on the duck only once. There was no way out. I felt stuck, as stuck as the duck was before I came. As snow and ice bellowed down from above me I realized giving up would only kill us both. That was not why I went down there. Snow stuck to snow, freezing over, adding to the ice that already existed. I realized the only way out was to let the snow win. Slow and precisely, each step I took was laid on a fresh pile of snow. The traction from the fresh ice that was still freezing over made it possible for me to climb out.

Once out of the pool I went to my car. I was not sure still why I was there, but what I did know what that this was the ugliest duck I had ever seen. I pulled my cape out of the car and wrapped it in it. What was I going to need it for in the day of drizzle? The heater blasted warm air on throughout the car as I slowly drove home. When we got home, I took the creature inside. When I took it out of my cape, it wasn't moving or gawking anymore; it just lay there. Feathers had fallen out of it leaving it half naked. It had bald spots all over. I quickly took it into the house and started a warm bath for it. I tried to put it in its own environment, warmer, wetter, better, bubbly, but ducks don't appear to like bubbles. It lay in the warm water doing nothing more than breathing and starring at me. After all I went through I didn't want it to die, not now. Feathers began to fall in the water adding to the ducks naked ugliness. I left it alone for the night, worrying it wouldn't live, worrying that it would, worrying that I had a wild duck at home. I was worried. It had basically died once already, now I was giving it a second chance. Maybe it was molting all of its feathers to start over. As I went to sleep I could hear it splashing around. I got up to look at it swimming in my bathtub. It was finally alive.

I woke up thinking the duck was coming out of its shell the night before. It would be beautiful now. It needed to start over. When I found it the next morning, I was beginning to worry this was not a duck at all. It laid completely naked in the water, with a mess of feathers underneath. They all fell out. But what was worse, it wasn't moving. I left me. I stood there holding a dead duck in my arms crying over all the work that I had done. I cried over all the sacrifices that I made to keep the duck alive. I did all I could, but there it lay. I sat on the floor crying over the bird feeling sorry for myself because I didn't do enough to keep it alive. I began to think why I even went to the pool in the first place; it still died. All I did was bring it home and gave it a place to splash around. At least it had a moment of peace before it died. It was fought harder than I did to stay along as long as it did before I came along to scrap it from the bottom of the pool. It made more sacrifices than I did, and still tried to live. It took me days to realize this. It took weeks, and I never fully understood the mystery of it all. It wasn't ugly at all. It was beautiful: it was alive. Even for a short glimmer of its little lifespan, it was happy. I wouldn't understand while it was alive. It was an ugly naked duck then. It died to for me to live. All this time I had always felt sorry for myself when I should have seen everything else going on around me. For it to move on, it had to say goodbye. It said goodbye to everything that was harsh when it was happy. I should have been happy when it was happy, but I was too worried. Now I am stuck like it, because I never got to say goodbye. I watched it die, but never said goodbye. I can move on when I say goodbye.

I know you're still there watching me, and wanting me to follow in your footsteps. I understand now that it wasn't your time, but you waited. You waited to die for me. You were trying to show me it is not about me, and did it in a very direct way. But you were always watching over me and I never appreciated that. But you are still there as the spirit in the back of my head. Somehow I didn't see that you were calling me until you were on the bottom. I tried to help and never mean to hurt you more. I'm sorry. You can't scare me anymore. I've gotten used to you there. I wont be haunted anymore. It's not about me; you were super too. I know you've been there, but I still feel alone. Your presence can still linger, but its time to start over. I know I need you, but I need you to help. You can stay there, but just don't let me forget. But until I really need you, just stay. I won't let you hold me back. I loved you like myself, and now you are gone. I have to become myself, not what you set out. Until I need you, goodbye.


	6. 6 Secret Santa

Secret Santa

As the holiday season approached, I found I was in need of money. I had more expenses than I was ever used to and summer lifeguard money can only go so far. So I took a job as an elf taking pictures of crying kids sitting on Santa's lap while pulling off his beard. Every now and then we'd get a nice picture of a candy cane stuck in his fake white hair.

The job was not so bad. I got paid fifty cents a picture, which during peak hours was rather nice, but other times it was a drag. Santa got $2 a picture, and he's not even the real Santa. The only thing I think I would really complain about was the tight mini-skirt elf costume I had to wear. I was repulsed by it, so I took measures into my own hand and brought along my cape. Even still we had an unusual high number of single fathers in own lines bringing their kids to see Santa.

After a while we'd tune out the screaming and crying. The kids were more afraid of Santa and sitting on his lap than anything else. And why shouldn't they? This picture was really for the parents and not for the kids. If the kids had their way they would take the candy and run. Some even tried that. But the parents need something to hand on for nostalgic purposes.

My job was not as simple as a point and click camera would assume. I had to get the kids into a decent picture pose. After a dozen kids screaming Santa's ear off, it was a miracle enough just to get them to look at the camera. And the parents never cared. I would just get their information and a few days later a picture would arrive in the mail.

I did this for a little over a month. For three or four hours a night after school I was found at the mall taking pictures of kids trying to flee the grips of Santa. On the week before Christmas I was found there 5-6 hours, and all day on weekends.

During the slow periods of the day we'd also try to coerce people into getting their picture taken. We needed to; else we'd be going home poor for that night. Some refused to acknowledge us, and some already ad their picture taken. Others would absolutely not have their picture take at that price period. Every now and then we'd get a lucky one. Every now and then we'd get a happy kid who was glad to have his picture taken with Santa. Other people would see this and sometimes a line would form.

With three days before Christmas, more and more people were realizing procrastination wasn't solving anything. We were taking more and more pictures. Lines were getting longer and longer, and we had fewer breaks. I was becoming more aware of the pictures I was taking. I could tell when parents were using the kids, and when kids were just in it for the candy, because free candy is free candy. They do not have to have a picture, and those were the ones we despised.

Then there are the genuine ones. The ones who you could tell deep down were really trying. It was rare, but now and then a family would walk by and sigh. There was one family that wanted a picture taken but couldn't. I could tell because they kept walking by and the same kids would be asking to go see Santa. All mom would say is that she couldn't afford it. But our timing was off. It was normally too busy for us to tell them they could go see Santa without a picture.

When they finally did walk by during a slow time, I walked out to greet them. "I've seen you walk by a few times. I can tell your kids want to see Santa. It is $5 for a picture, but you don't have to buy a picture. They can see Santa either way."

"It's alright. I appreciate it and all, but we can't right now," the mother replied through her kids screaming and nagging to please let them go. I could see in her eyes she wanted to.

"Are you sure?" I asked knowing it was just a matter of time before someone convinced her.

"Not tonight. It's late and we need to get back before it gets too dark out." She was looking on the floor now trying to guide her eyes away from me.

"It won't take too long, just a matter of minutes," I decided to try and convince them another way and knelt down. "What are your names?" I asked to the kids.

"Tim," said the tiny boy behind his mother's legs.

"My name is Carol," said his sister.

"Why does your Mommy say you can't see Santa?"

"Because we don't have a chimney. She said Santa can't come to our house because we do not have a chimney." Tim was beginning to come out of hiding.

"Yeah, and I told her Billy in my class don't have a chimney and Santa still goes there every year," said the sister.

"Well, what if we talk to Santa about the chimney," I said looking at the mom. "It really wont do any harm just to talk to Santa."

"Can we mom? Can we, please??"

The mom looked into their glowing faces and sighed, "Oh, alright." She couldn't let them down than they already were.

The kids scurried on up to the podium where Santa was waiting. "So what is the real reason?" It was none of my business but I ad already gone this far.

"I don't want them to get their hopes up. I don't want him to tell them 'no problem,' and then nothing is there on Christmas. It has been a very hard year on them and I cannot afford much. So much has happened to them that another big disappointment might crush them."

"What do you mean another disaster?" I think I was taking this too far for a simple picture elf.

She looked at me and took a deep breath. "I don't want to burden you with my problems."

"Oh, it's no burden."

"I will say that we haven't had a lot of money. I can't get that much, but I try to please them. With everything else that has gone wrong this year I only had enough money to provide them with one small gift. But small as it was, it either comes from Santa, and mom can't buy anything, or it comes from mom and Santa simply cannot come in because there is no chimney. I can keep their dreams alive, even if not my own." That was a lot.

"I'll tell you what. I'll give you a picture. We aren't supposed to do this, but I have a feeling about this." I felt sorry I pressured them into coming over.

"You don't need to set yourself back anything, honest."

"It's no trouble at all," I said as I went to the camera. Of all of the kids I took pictures of in the past weeks, these two looked the happiest. They had a grin from ear to ear.

"All I need is your address and we'll mail the picture when it's ready."

"Um… I will give you my sister's address. That should work ok." She gave me the information as the kids came from Santa's lap laden with sugar filled candy canes. "No one has been this nice to me since I have been on my own. I can't thank you enough." Her eyes were watery as she began to walk away.

"That was an interesting one," Santa said after they had left. "Do you know what they wanted?"

"No, what's that?"

"Well, the one wanted mom to smile more, and the boy wanted her to stop crying."

"Really."

"So I asked them if there was anything that Santa could being them that they wanted. They told me I couldn't come over because they had no chimney that I could come down. After I convinced them I could, which took a while, do you know what they wanted?"

"No the slightest clue."

"The girl wanted a karaoke machine; a pink one. And the boy, this is funny, wanted an EZ bake oven. He's only four!"

"He's just a kid."

"I know, but I still don't understand it all."

"They're still just kids."

The next day I had off. This was one of my days I got to develop and assemble the pictures to be mailed. I had to develop the pictures and make sure they were all ok. I was another stores one-hour photo looking at their shoddy work when I came to the happiest and last picture.

I had an idea on how I might get them the things that they wanted. I would simply ask the store manager for donations. People love to donate this time of year. That's why we have bell ringers in front of every store, every one that's not red that is. After finding the items and looking at the prices, I realized this idea might not work. I found the store's head manager and spoke with him about Tim and Carol, and how I dragged them onto Santa's lap and mom confided in me her troubling year, but he couldn't do anything to help. He told me to try another place.

Store after store I went on talking to managers and explaining the story. Each place apologized and sent me on my way. I felt they thought I was asking for free handouts. One place gave me a coupon, as if that would really help. Eventually I had to stop. I still had pictures to package and deliver. I was really beginning there was no Santa, and no one had enough Christmas spirit to help anyone out but themselves.

I took the pictures to the express mailbox to get them out and to their homes possibly before Christmas came. All but one was placed in the mailbox. I thought I would hand deliver one. I drove to the address they gave me and knocked on the door. Something seemed wrong. When the door finally did open, the lady that answered said no one by that name lived there. I began to walk away distraught, but the expression on her face told me there was something else. I looked up and saw a chimney… no wonder.

I decided to try again, this time asking if she knew them. I pulled out the picture and showed it to her. She recognized her niece and nephew but had not seen them in over. She was worried something happened to them since their dad just left. She gave me an address on the opposite end of town that she heard they might be at. I left for home depressed. I was on a duck hunt.

I spent an exhausting night running about town that I got very little sleep. When I got to work the next day I was still dragging. I stood there taking pictures not fully trying to get all the proper information and confusing pictures to names and numbers. I eventually zoned out. I was awakened by a guy asking if I was just going to stand there or take a picture. He was nice about it. I apologized and snapped the picture. He smiled and took the kids on their way.

I took my dinner break early. I needed a lot of caffeine to keep me awake; I needed to eat too. I went to the food court, ordered my food, sat, and began to eat. I only had 30 minutes.

"So elves like pizza?" I heard from behind me. It was a guy, and probably another single dad.

"This one does," I said with cheese hanging out of my mouth. He noticed it by pointing at his face.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing I'm going to bore you with. It really none of my business in the first place. So to answer your question, no."

"Ok, then don't bore me, go ahead and talk."

"I don't even know who you are."

"Oh sorry. Right, the formalities. I'm Harry Dickens. I own a little bottling plant in town. You may have drank my cider? You took a picture of my two kids earlier. I am the one that woke you up."

"I like your cider. You married?"

"No." Another single dad. "My wife died of lung cancer a while ago. It was in the papers if you followed them. She never smoked a day in her life. And by your nametag I can see you are…"

"I'm Shelly the elf."

"And the only elf around these parts that wear a cape. I like that, it's creative." Can he not flirt with me? Thirty minutes for lunch and this guy was going to eat all my time.

"Where are your kids anyway?"

"They are out playing games. I wanted to talk to you and see what was bothering you."

"Well I'm 17 and have a middle aged man hitting on me."

"Oh shoot. I'm sorry. I don't mean to appear that way at all. Shoot, I could be your father." Some people like that though. "You think I- I'm not hitting on you. I'm terribly sorry if it seems that way. I just believe people shouldn't be sad on Christmas. I was just trying to cheer you up."

"I'm not the one who needs cheering up."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been taking pictures of kids with Santa for several weeks now and it never bothered me until two days ago."

"And what happened two days ago that bothered you so?"

"These two kids came up begging to see Santa but their mom refused. I convinced her that it was ok. That was my fault. I found out why the kids weren't supposed to see Santa after it was too late."

"And why is that?"

"She's too poor. So Santa will not be visiting them this year. She simply cannot afford the anything, and there is no chimney for Santa to come down. So I went from store to store asking for donations for them, but no one believed me. And last night I tried to deliver their picture to them and found out she gave me the wrong address, well it was her sisters address, but we aren't positive where the kids live."

"I see. That is rather depressing. And so you have no idea where they live."

"I have an address that her sister said they _might_ be living. The only thing I have that proves they exist is this picture," I said showing him the day old photo.

"What if I help? My company can donate a few toys. What is it that the kids want?"

I told him about the extravagance of the gifts and his eyes grew to the size of chestnuts. He said he would see what he could do if he could get a copy of the address. I didn't care, if it was a bad address then no one is hurt. I thanked him for listening but I was already late.

When I got back to my station, Santa informed me a box came for me. As he was repositioning his beard I found it. One of the stores I talked to delivered me a box of small toys, wrapped. Maybe I shouldn't have told them where I worked.

As the evening went on I had people dropping off more and more things. I gathered quite a collection of both toys and stares as the evening came to a close. Even Santa asked what I was doing. For Santa, he's not too intuitive. I reminded him about Tim and Carol. He said it was a nice gesture but I should not get involved. It took five trips but I finally got everything loaded into my car.

The next morning was Christmas. I wasn't able to sleep well so I was up early. I looked out the window and saw my car covered in snow. '_I hope the presents are all ok,'_ I thought. After I got dressed I figured I'd go out and deliver what I could. I was not going to do anything at the house and my family was not going to be getting up and doing anything anytime soon.

I drove across town to find the mysterious house where they might be living. I really hoped to find it. It would be rather difficult for me to explain why I ad all of these toys in my car otherwise. I don't really play with dolls anymore.

It was about 7:30 when I found the neighborhood that the address was supposed to be in. None of the houses around had chimneys. They were tiny houses that maybe held a few small rooms. They were even falling apart, with trees breaking into windows. It was very dreary.

When I found the house I nervously sat in my car. What if this was another wrong address? I decided there as no way to find out if I didn't go ask. Taking the picture with me, I walked up to the house and knocked on the door. The mother of Tim and Carol answered the door in disarray.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Shelly. I worked at the Santa booth in the mall where you ad your kids get their pictures taken. You gave me the wrong address."

"I thought I gave you my sisters address."

"You did."

"How'd you find me?"

"Your sister, who is very concerned about you, thought I might find you here." She looked at me in disbelief.

"I didn't want anyone here. I didn't want anyone to see I live in this box for a house."

"It's ok. I have something for you," I said pulling the picture out of my pocket. "This will help you remember all of the joy you had."

"What joy? Living here?"

Do you see how happy they are? They are with you and you still love them. It may be hard, but, well, here." I handed her the picture as a tear came to her eye.

"Thank you."

"Oh and there is something else in my car." I began to walk to my car when a moving truck pulled up aside my car. In it was Harry Dickens.

"What's all this?" She said bewildered.

"This is your Christmas," I replied. "Meet Harry Dickens. He, uh."

"I run a small bottling plant in town. This time of year we produce a lot of cider. Maybe you have had some."

"I think I recall the name, yes."

"This young lady did a very noble thing for you, and did so in very little time. She well, look here," He said motioning to her car and his truck. "She did all of this."

Inside his truck were boxes upon boxes of wrapped presents. She cried as each box was taken inside her house and placed under the Christmas tree that was too big for the roof.

"You did all of this?" She asked of Shelly. "How?"

"It doesn't matter how. You just have a merry Christmas." I said as she went inside to wake the kids.

"You know what? You are Super, Shelly." Harry said after she closed the door.

"I get that a lot."

"Maybe that is why you wear that cape. Anyway, I brought something for you too," he said reaching under his seat. "I remember you saying you like my cider," he said pulling out a large jug of cider.

"Yes I do." I laughed remembering the last time I had some. "Dickens Cider is a treat. Drink it with or without meat!" I quoted its slogan. He laughed too.

"You know, not everyone believes in Santa. I bet after taking all those pictures you were beginning not to as well. Maybe you didn't. But those kids found a Santa in you, and so you aren't an elf anymore." He said these things while placing a Santa hat on my head. "I will keep your secret, Santa."

As we got in our respective cars I could hear the mother waking the kids. "Kids. Tim! Carol. Come quick. Wake up! Santa Came. Santa really came!"


End file.
